GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- Anti-drug operatives arrested a fugitive drug pusher in an operation at the city airport here on Tuesday afternoon.
Valente Cariño, acting head of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in Region 12, said they arrested suspect Felixberto Perbillo VI alias “Moi-Moi” while about to leave for Manila at 2:55 p.m.
He said they initially subjected the suspect to a buy-bust operation at his home in Lower Osmeña Street in Koronadal City on Monday night but managed to escape and to elude arrest.
During the buy-bust, he said Perbillo yielded two sachets of suspected metamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu weighing 0.2 grams and a pack of dried marijuana leaves weighing three grams that were all worth P2,500.
But Cariño said the 21 year-old suspect, a college student, “eluded arrest when his relatives and friends freed him from the arresting officers.”
“They hid the suspect inside a relative’s house and blocked the entry of other operatives,” he said in a statement.
The official said they searched the area along with elements from the Koronadal City police station but eventually failed to locate and arrest the suspect.
On Tuesday morning, Cariño said they received information that the suspect would be flying to Manila in the afternoon, prompting them to immediately coordinate with the airport police unit headed by Chief Insp. Marlou Dolar.
“The suspect was finally apprehended by our operatives while he was about to board the plane,” he said.
He said Perbillo, who is detained at the PDEA-12 headquarters here, would be charged for violation of Section 5 and 11 or sale and possession of dangerous drugs, under Article II of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.(PNA)
